Here's a game that no trailers or screenshots can really make you understand. If you're a veteran of the old days and just here to see if this is worth getting to play on your modern rig, then yes, this is the same experience that you know, and it's been patched so you can play it without any problems. (In fairness, GOG gets points for not having the CD-rom issue in the first place.) But for the uninitiated...

You can see that the game puts you in the cockpits of the galaxy's most iconic starfighters. What you don't realize is that your micromanagement skills will be tested as thoroughly as your reflexes and hand-eye coordination. You hear the missile lock warning, so you immediately switch targets to see who's on your tail, at the same time dropping your throttle for maximum evasive maneuverability while simultaneously dumping your weapon regeneration power to the engines so you can zoom out of his firing zone, but ****, you've forgotten to transfer your current laser energy to your shields! A single blast connects before you set your shields fully aft, and then all you can do is hope that the countermeasure you just launched will take care of any other warheads coming your way... And that's just for the keyboard. Your other hand will be pushing your joystick as far as it goes, hoping to juke your pursuer so that you can line up your own assault - which isn't just a matter of pointing and shooting, but requires you to lead each shot so that you're firing at where you anticipate your enemy will be after a split second. What, this sounds too complicated? Did you think you could just sit down and instantly fly like Wedge Antilles? You've got some learning to do, trainee... (Fortunately, there is an extensive series of exercise missions that will walk you through all of your available tools. Whether you decide to do these is completely up to you, given that you can immediately jump headlong into any mission you wish.)

By the time all of the intricacies become second nature to you, you'll be hungry for some real allies. While the AI does an admirable job of either being extremely aggressive or extremely passive (depending on the difficulty), the toughest missions beg to be played with live wingmates. I was introduced to GameRanger, a straightforward third-party program that does a decent job of connecting you to fellow pilots. There is the issue of lag with slower connections, but that's negligible considering how rewarding it feels to communicate and work together towards a set of challenging goals.

This is an old-school game that, despite its dated graphics, continues to shine as one of the most immersive and authentic experiences out there. It's not for everyone, but if you ever wanted to be a starfighter pilot, this is your chance to prove it.

Fond memories of this game, the nostalgia is real! Just a heads-up...If you own a Saitek X55, you're going to have issues. You see, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter only recognizes 1 joystick...and the X55 (the stick and throttle) counts as 2. Just be aware that if you only own an X-55 (like myself), it might be time to pick up a cheap stick for these older games. None of this is the game's fault of course, so I'm not blaming it. Blame Saitek/Mad Catz instead.

EDIT: Apparently you can use joystick emulators to get around the X-55 issue. See this review's comments for details.

Create new pilot: "Jek Tono Porkins"
Start Training Mission: Hold It
Primary Objective: Hold it
Secondary Objective: Pull up
Tertiary Objective: Are you alright?

Mission Failed.

12/10 Would run into the death star again.

Just like I remembered it from 1997. One of the best classics of it's time. For a game originally designed for DOS and Windows 95 it's running pretty good on Windows 7 with a modern setup. My only complaint is I wish this had come out on Steam years ago!

1st training mission
Commander voice "Don't touch anything until told to"
Me thinking : "Shut up I played this game when I was 11, I know how it works" *hit backspace*
System message : "throttle at full speed"
Me: *crashes on the dummy, ship destroyed, mission failed, demoted to ground personnel"

134/10 Would touch everything before told to again.

This is not a real review, it's just a bunch of info you might find useful.
Anyway, after a few hours of gameplay I can say that the game runs smoothly on win 7/64bit, the only "problem" is that you cannot change resolution settings, it's not that bat but it would have been cool playing at 1980x1200.
You need either a joypad or joystick to play, the latter would be the best choice since the game is a lot easier if you play with 1 hand on the keyboard. I use a crappy joypad PS2 style, I can play quite well, not as I used to when I was 11 and played wit a joystick, but the analog stick is good enough. You can bind any button on the joypad and that's a good thing since there are so many commands.

This was the first game I played extensively, I cannot racommend it well enough, but it's not for everyone. It's very old and i suggest you to buy it only if you are a nostalgic SW lover like me.

Great game, awesome that it came out on steam ! this one is a classic, but;
- no widescreen suport
- no windowed mode

Get this if you have an old CRT monitor

Brings back so many cool memories......so many late nights in grade school blasting Tie fighters. All version are solid, and you cant beat the price. Get over the special CD version not included, be happy that you at least get to play the only true space based sim.

Right on Steam. Keep them coming.

Haters, get lost. Go play angry birds.

I highly recommend this game, even as someone who didn't grow up with it. But do yourself a favor and get the GOG version.

Still have my original CD w/ instruction book. Insanely happy to see this game added. Don't have a joystick like i did back in '97, but an Xbox/Windows controller combined with a bit of keyboard work is perfect.

Two games included - X-Wing vs. TIE fighter and Balance of Power. NEITHER will run without the original game CD-ROMs, so beware. Wish I had seen a review stating this before dropping $$$ to buy on steam. Not sure if there is another option (e.g., downloading an executable that bypasses the CD-ROM check), but that's beyond what I would have expected - I expected to purchase and download from Steam, and then the game work properly without needing to go to third party sites and install questionalble software.

Steam, please correct this & provide an update!!!